


Holmesian Studies in Chaos Theory

by CaffieneKitty



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Double Drabble, Gen, Metaphors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-01
Updated: 2011-01-01
Packaged: 2017-12-30 03:50:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1013744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaffieneKitty/pseuds/CaffieneKitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"When a butterfly flutters its wings in one part of the world, it can eventually cause a hurricane in another." - Edward Lorenz</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Holmesian Studies in Chaos Theory

**Author's Note:**

> _Originally posted on Livejournal January 1, 2011_

Mycroft's work is butterfly wings. No shipments to coordinate, sales figures to tally, troops to give direct orders to, structures to build, people to personally manage, no. Just these words in that ear at this point in time from those people. An extra moment spent listening to the way the Vice-President of Burundi's under-secretary describes his daughter's cello recital. Knowing people, knowing things, and knowing what they meant and how they effected the socio-political infrastructure of the situation at hand. Fragile moments, ideas. They could stop a storm before it started or bring the maelstrom, depending how they were used.

Sherlock's work is hurricanes. Roiling masses of confused distress, crimes and bodies laid out like a wind-ripped sea. As a whole, overwhelming, incomprehensible. The big picture is the enemy of rational thought. Details, that mark on the heel of a shoe, that drop that isn't actually blood, the way a person stands or speaks when they know they are watched, and how that differs from when they feel secure in their privacy. Observed and pinned crystal-still, the connotations and implications unfolding and unfurling, revealing their sources and from turmoil, reason coalesces. Inside the maelstrom, he can see the butterflies fluttering.

\- - -  
(that's it)


End file.
